Glenn Gould, The Idea of the North

Glenn Gould talking about his work for radio The Idea of the North. That recording speaks to me about the profound (and very beautiful at times) experience of isolation that I associate with my 34 years living in Canada. While Hugh McLennan wrote about “the two solitudes” of English and French Canada, Gould’s recording makes the case that it is a nation of many—perhaps infinite—solitudes. And Gould’s performance of Webern afterwards seems as defined by its silences as by the notes, a very Cagean notion.